Old-fashioned letter writing with liquid bluing, tea, etc.

[Mangrove]

I have used carbon ink made out of charcoal dust and honey with my reed pen. Mixed the two ingredients in 1:1 ratio and then dried the mixture to a stick.

 

Martti

Edited December 31, 2008 by Martti Kujansuu

[Gran]

I took my coupon to Michael's and bought a bottle of gum arabic.

 

I can now get three lines of writing out of one dip. I am using standard typing paper, folded in half, for use in small envelopes.

 

My current ink mixture is: bluing, tincture of iodine, and gum arabic. The gum arabic keeps the other two mixed together and gives me many more words per dip. It's nifty stuff!

[dcwaites]

Ok, iron-tea ink works! :bunny01:

 

I bought some cheap tea, some really cheap steel wool, and some cleaning vinegar.

 

I used four coffee measures of tea, boiling water and one shredded steel wool soap pad.

I washed the oil out of the steel wool in the process of getting rid of the soap.

I let it steep for a while until it had cooled a little, and added a couple of metric slurps (not those old-fashioned imperial slurps!) of the vinegar.

 

I intended to leave it for at least an hour before decanting and filtering out all the tea leaves, shreds of steel wool, etc.

However, I'm the impatient type. After about 10 minutes I couldn't resist, so I dipped a pen in it and wrote.

 

Magic! It went on almost clear, and as it dried and oxidised, it went a readable brown colour, just as it should.

 

Now all I have to do is wait and let the chemistry happen properly.

 

Apparently the Blue-Black from traditional iron-gall inks comes from the blue added to the ink so you could see what you were writing. As the ink dried and oxidised, it turned dark brown or black.

 

Does anybody have an idea as to the appropriate concentrations of tea, steel wool and vinegar?

 

Should I soak the steel wool in vinegar for a while before?

 

And did they ever find out who shot JR?

 

Edited to add:

 

After 30 minutes, the chemistry is still happening.

The ink is now starting to turn blackish on drying, and it does so more quickly.

Once I have done all my tests, it will be interesting to see how permanent the ink is.

 

 

 

Edited January 5, 2009 by dcwaites

[dcwaites]

And these are the results for the Kitchen Ink!

 

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3109/3170125858_5c75879273_b.jpg

 

These are a few lines written with the Kitchen Ink using a Myers & Son Post Office Pen. At least with this batch, it is a light browny-black. You need a fairly wet pen to get enough ink on the page to see it after it turns dark.

 

As for waterproofness, have a look --

 

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1049/3170125672_5fd05be9aa.jpg

 

The bottom two lines were written, allowed to dry for about 20 minutes, and gently rinsed under the tap. The top line wasn't touched with the water at all. There is no difference between the lines, and there is absolutely no movement of the ink. For comparison, at the bottom is a little scribble done in a black ink (probably Parker Quink). It has mostly gone away.

 

 

[Gran]

DCW, thank you so much for posting your experiment. 'Tis fascinating!

[liapuyat]

Oh, I'm so tempted to try this! I have a Speedball dip pen set... I suppose it would be safe enough on the nibs...

[Gran]

Oh, I'm so tempted to try this! I have a Speedball dip pen set... I suppose it would be safe enough on the nibs...

 

 

I clean my nibs are using them. If I let them sit too long, so that the ink doesn't come off easily with water, then I use white vinegar on a paper towel, and just wipe them off. So far, no trouble.

 

 

 

Further report of "kitchen inks":

 

My mixture of Mrs. Stewart's liquid bluing, tincture of iodine, and gum arabic stays on the paper after trying to wash off the ink by running water on it. The blue stays strong, some of the brown from the tincture of iodine washes off, but the writing stays clear and legible.

 

I'm sorry I don't have a digital camera to show you how nifty it looks.

[dcwaites]

A further report on the Iron-Tea Kitchen Ink.

 

I found my original batch of ink too thin, as it was almost invisible when first written, making it difficult to see what I was writing.

 

So I took half of it and reduced it from about 100 mls down to about 25 mls, using a bain-marie type setup. It now goes down as a quite visible light brown and dries to a black colour, instead of the light browny-black. That means I don't have to try and add a blue dye to make it easy to write with.

 

Given that the original aim was to make a suitable ink from inexpensive items likely to be found in a Depression-era kitchen, here are the economics of my ink --

 

4 tablespoons of tea, enough to make 8 cups of tea

1 steel wool pad

1/2 cup vinegar

 

to make 200 mls of light ink

 

reduce using heat by a factor of 4 to concentrate

 

to make 50 mls of permanent, possibly archival, ink.

 

BTW, the ink smells. It's not very intense, but it goes through and saturates a largish kitchen/dining room. Not everyone can smell it (I can smell it, but my wife can't, otherwise it would be banished from the house...).

 

 

[liapuyat]

What vessel do you use to heat this solution in please?

[Gran]

DCW, thanks for the update. Most useful!

 

Is there a risk of mold? It's one of the reasons I added tincture of iodine to mine.

Edited January 6, 2009 by Gran

[dcwaites]

What vessel do you use to heat this solution in please?

I put the ink in a jar, put the jar in a pot of gently boiling water and checked every 15 minutes (takes about 1 1/2 hours) till it had reduced down to the level I wanted.

 

Technically it's a bain-marie.

 

I have used the same technique to reduce some ink made from ink powder down to a useful concentration.

 

 

[dcwaites]

DCW, thanks for the update. Most useful!

 

Is there a risk of mold? It's one of the reasons I added tincture of iodine to mine.

I don't know. I've only had it for a day or so.

 

There are some toxic chemicals in the bottle. I say good luck to anything that can live in it.

 

As well, vinegar is a pretty good antiseptic itself, which is why it is used in eardrops like Vosol.

 

 

[liapuyat]

What vessel do you use to heat this solution in please?

I put the ink in a jar, put the jar in a pot of gently boiling water and checked every 15 minutes (takes about 1 1/2 hours) till it had reduced down to the level I wanted.

 

Technically it's a bain-marie.

 

I have used the same technique to reduce some ink made from ink powder down to a useful concentration.

 

 

Oh goody, I don't have to buy any fancy containers. I have used the bain-marie method to melt chocolate for desserts

 

As to the level that you wanted... you mean reduced to one-fourth of original solution, right? So it becomes concentrated? I suppose you can dilute this later to your preferred color if it evaporates a bit through exposure to air.

 

Thanks so much for the explanations... I'm writing them all down in my project notebook for the summer.

[Gran]

Kitchen-inks report: Left in tiny, open, glasses in the kitchen: both the bluing "ink", and the tea "ink" grew mold. Was concocted on Dec. 30.

 

Looks like these are a mix-and-use-up-quickly source of ink. Or, they need more iodine and to be kept in closed jars. I had used tap water. Perhaps they need distilled water.

[vans]

Mold spores are everywhere - and they float around on the air currents. Yes, more iodine and closed jars. Interesting discussion.

 

[Wildoaklane]

A further report on the Iron-Tea Kitchen Ink.

 

I found my original batch of ink too thin, as it was almost invisible when first written, making it difficult to see what I was writing.

 

So I took half of it and reduced it from about 100 mls down to about 25 mls, using a bain-marie type setup. It now goes down as a quite visible light brown and dries to a black colour, instead of the light browny-black. That means I don't have to try and add a blue dye to make it easy to write with.

 

Given that the original aim was to make a suitable ink from inexpensive items likely to be found in a Depression-era kitchen, here are the economics of my ink --

 

4 tablespoons of tea, enough to make 8 cups of tea

1 steel wool pad

1/2 cup vinegar

 

to make 200 mls of light ink

 

reduce using heat by a factor of 4 to concentrate

to make 50 mls of permanent, possibly archival, ink.

 

BTW, the ink smells. It's not very intense, but it goes through and saturates a largish kitchen/dining room. Not everyone can smell it (I can smell it, but my wife can't, otherwise it would be banished from the house...).

 

Ooh! I'm having so much fun following this recipe. It works really well. Haven't added any gum arabic yet...how much per 50 ml do you think? I've distilled some cochineal and logwood to make iron gall ink. Now, if the post would just deliver the oak galls I could get started! Guess I'll have to work on that stale beer for that Jane Austen recipe I'm going to try.

 

edited to make sense as my reply ended up in the middle of the quote...my apologies

Edited January 29, 2009 by Wildoaklane

[amyx231]

<!--quoteo(post=875767:date=Jan 6 2009, 07:32 AM:name=dcwaites)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (dcwaites @ Jan 6 2009, 07:32 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=875767"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->A further report on the Iron-Tea Kitchen Ink.

 

I found my original batch of ink too thin, as it was almost invisible when first written, making it difficult to see what I was writing.

 

So I took half of it and reduced it from about 100 mls down to about 25 mls, using a bain-marie type setup. It now goes down as a quite visible light brown and dries to a black colour, instead of the light browny-black. That means I don't have to try and add a blue dye to make it easy to write with.

 

Given that the original aim was to make a suitable ink from inexpensive items likely to be found in a Depression-era kitchen, here are the economics of my ink --

 

4 tablespoons of tea, enough to make 8 cups of tea

1 steel wool pad

1/2 cup vinegar

 

to make 200 mls of light ink

 

reduce using heat by a factor of 4 to concentrate

to make 50 mls of permanent, possibly archival, ink.

 

BTW, the ink smells. It's not very intense, but it goes through and saturates a largish kitchen/dining room. Not everyone can smell it (I can smell it, but my wife can't, otherwise it would be banished from the house...).<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

 

Ooh! I'm having so much fun following this recipe. It works really well. Haven't added any gum arabic yet...how much per 50 ml do you think? I've distilled some cochineal and logwood to make iron gall ink. Now, if the post would just deliver the oak galls I could get started! Guess I'll have to work on that stale beer for that Jane Austen recipe I'm going to try.

 

edited to make sense as my reply ended up in the middle of the quote...my apologies

 

 

 

 

ive looked everywhere, and i still dont understand. why the steel wool? i know it has to do with tannic acid...???

Can anyone clarify this? Thanks!

also, what is laundry bluing? from what i can tell its like bleach...ive never seen it anywhere. will plain food coloring be fine, or do you guys think i should buy some acacia? Thanks!

[fiberdrunk]

 

 

ive looked everywhere, and i still dont understand. why the steel wool? i know it has to do with tannic acid...???

Can anyone clarify this? Thanks!

 

 

The tea leaves provide the tannic acid, and the steel wool the iron. The tannic acid reacts with the iron to make a dark ink. There's a chemical reaction there.

[jbb]

Great topic.

[fiberdrunk]

also, what is laundry bluing? from what i can tell its like bleach...ive never seen it anywhere. will plain food coloring be fine, or do you guys think i should buy some acacia? Thanks!

 

 

Here's a link to Mrs. Stewart's Liquid Bluing. It'll tell you what you need to know. It whitens your whites. I've used it to make salt crystals with my son. I haven't seen it for sale in the grocery store laundry aisle in a long time. We tend to find it in educational/science toy stores.